Ricoh Company, Ltd.

Other

Fuji Xerox Co., Ltd.

Osamu Endo

Yoshinori Hayashi

Yasushi Nakazato

Hidetoshi Yano

Katsuo Sakai

Hisashi Shoji

Takayuki Kimura

Takahiko Tokumasu

Takayuki Ohsawa

Yasuo Nakamura

Minoru Suzuki

Seizo Suzuki

Masanori Horike

Tsukuru Kai

Tomoko Takahashi

Yukiko Iwasaki

Nobuo Sakuma

Koji Sakamoto

Shin Kayahara

Masanori Saitoh

Kei Yasutomi

Kenichi Takanashi

Nobuto Yokokawa

Kan Tomita

Nobuaki Kondoh

Kiyoshi Ohshima

Katsumi Yamaguchi

Masami Kadonaga

Masako Yoshii

Yoshiko Ishii

Masako Suzuki

Per Klockar

Sigeru Kuwahara

Nobuo Matsukawa

Koji Ichimiya

Kiyotaka Ota

A direct image-recording device in which a predetermined gap set between an image carrier and a hole forming member can be maintained, and an image forming apparatus provided with the direct image-recording device. In the direct image-recording device including: housing that accommodates an agent; an agent carrier that is rotatably supported by the housing and faces outside from an opening formed in the housing; a sheet-like hole forming member having a plurality of holes formed therein and facing the agent carrier at a predetermined distance therefrom; and a plurality of electrodes, by which the agent flies, provided at the hole forming member correspondingly to each of the plurality of holes and form an electric field causing the agent to fly selectively from the agent carrier toward the hole, a positioning member is provided at the housing so as to cover the agent carrier, the positioning member being configured to hold the hole forming member along the axial direction of the agent carrier by a side wall of the positioning member that has open portions formed in locations at least opposing the plurality of holes formed in the hole forming member, and configured to position the holes relative to the agent carrier so that the relative positions of the agent carrier and the holes are in a predetermined positional relationship.

Direct image-recording device and image forming apparatus equipped therewith

An air flow is generated in a space adjacent to the toner control member , when an image is not being formed, and also a cleaning electric field for moving the toner away from the toner control member is generated in the same space. For instance, a slit is formed in an outer peripheral section of a cylindrical and rotatable counter electrode member , and an air flow generating source such as a fan is connected to the counter electrode member . A convex cleaning electrode is formed around the slit of the counter electrode member , and a voltage for forming a cleaning electric field is applied from the power supply source for cleaning to this cleaning electrode

Image forming method and an apparatus for the same, and a cleaning device

A method of forming a powder image on a recording medium and an apparatus therefor are disclosed. The apparatus includes a toner carrier for carrying powdery toner in a layer or layers thereon, a counter electrode, and a flight control member having independent or continuous extremely small holes and a plurality of control electrodes for controlling the passage of toner through the holes. A voltage is applied to the control electrodes in accordance with an image signal in order to cause the toner to fly from the toner carrier toward the counter electrode via the holes. The toner deposits on the recording medium intervening between the flight control member and the counter electrode, forming an image on the recording medium. The method and apparatus are capable of increasing a recording speed, recording an image even on a paper in a humid environment or on a conductor, simplifying circuitry for driving control electrodes included in the flight control member, promoting the effective use of drivers during image formation, causing only a part of toner for forming an image to fly, and reducing the cost.

Method and apparatus for forming a powder image

An image forming apparatus includes a cleaning member for collecting toner left on an image carrier after image transfer, and then redepositing it on the carrier, so that a developing unit can collect the redeposited toner to reuse it. Even when the frictional charging ability of the cleaning member falls due to aging or varying environment, the charge of the toner left on the image carrier is regulated to preselected polarity before the toner reaches the cleaning member, thereby enhancing a toner collecting efficiency and a toner redepositing efficiency. The charge of the toner redeposited on the image carrier and moved away from the cleaning member is regulated to preselected polarity while being increased, thereby reducing a load to act on the developing unit. The toner is redeposited on the image carrier efficiently without regard to the polarity of the toner collected by the cleaning member. The developing unit is allowed to collect all the toner redeposited on the image carrier, thereby freeing the background of an image from contamination. When the cleaning member collects the toner from the image carrier, the toner is prevented from being transferred from the cleaning member to the image carrier, thereby obviating defective cleaning. An image forming speed is increased by reducing the interval between consecutive image forming areas. A pressure is caused to act uniformly between the cleaning member and the image carrier in the axial direction of the roller, further enhancing the toner collecting efficiency and toner redepositing efficiency while obviating background contamination.

Configured to enhance toner collecting efficiency and toner redepositing

A character output device comprises a storage section for storing typeface property data consisting of quantitative and qualitative information of the specific parts of specific characters that are commonly possessed by a plural number of fonts, a distance calculating section for calculating a distance between typeface property of a font the use of which is requested and any of other fonts than the use requested font, and a font selector section for selecting, on the basis of the calculation result, a font of which the typeface property is closest to the typeface property of the use requested font. In the character output device, when a font with the same typeface as that of the use requested font is not retained in the character output device, a control section and a character development processor section cooperatively substitute the typeface of the retained font selected by the font selector section for the typeface of the use requested font to perform a character processing. An output section outputs the result of the character processing.

Character output device

In an image forming apparatus, during the course of recording, a cleaning roller is rotated together with an image carrier. The roller frictionally charges toner left on the image carrier after image transfer to the same polarity. A cleaning member electrostatically collects the charged toner. At the same time, a voltage is applied to the cleaning member by a voltage applying device in order to cause it to attract the charged toner, thereby cleaning the image carrier. Hence, even when the toner remaining on image carrier is charged partly to the positive polarity and partly to the negative polarity, the toner can be entirely transferred to the cleaning member by a simple construction.

Image forming apparatus and cleaning device therefor

An optical scanning apparatus includes: a light source for emitting a laser light ray; a cylinder lens for converting the laser light ray into a first convergent light ray that converges only in a sub-scanning direction and remains unchanged in a main scanning direction; a deflection unit for deflecting the first convergent light ray from the cylinder lens; a focusing unit for converting the deflected light ray into a second convergent light ray that converges in the main scanning direction, and for focusing the second convergent light ray on a scanned surface as a light spot; an aperture unit, arranged between the light source and the deflection unit, for blocking an outer peripheral portion of the laser light ray and for restricting a width of the laser light ray in the sub-scanning direction to a first width of an aperture of the aperture unit; and an adjusting unit for adjusting the first width of the aperture of the aperture unit so as to eliminate a deviation of the diameter of the light spot on the scanned surface from a design value.

Optical scanning apparatus

In an optical scanner, a light beam deflected by an optical deflector is reflected on a reflective image forming element and is converged as a light spot onto a scanned face through an elongated lens to perform an optical scanning operation. The reflective image forming element is formed by a plastic material and has a function for approximately converging the deflected light beam onto the scanned face with respect to a main scan-corresponding direction. The reflective image forming element also has a function for approximately moving the light spot at an equal speed. The elongated lens is formed by plastic and has a function for converging the deflected light beam onto the scanned face with respect to a cross scan-corresponding direction in cooperation with the reflective image forming element. The elongated lens also has negative refracting power with respect to the main scan-corresponding direction. In this optical scanner, the influence of a change in temperature on optical scanning characteristics can be reduced.

Optical scanner

A safety indicating device having a flexible indicator body and a power source unit. The indicator body has a transparent protective sheet which is disposed on the back side of a front sheet having a plurality of windows and on which projections corresponding to the windows are formed, and a flexible substrate which is disposed on the back side of the transparent protective sheet and on which LEDs are fixedly arranged in a manner corresponding to the projections. The transparent protective sheet and the flexible substrate are stacked and adhered to each other. A waterproof lining sheet is closely adhered to the back of the flexible substrate.

Safety indicating device

An optical scanner having a deflecting device for reflecting and deflecting a laser beam issued from a light source device with a reflective surface thereof, and image forming optics for focusing the deflected laser beam onto a target surface to form a beam spot. A first aperture is interposed between the light source device and the deflecting device for correcting the diameter of the beam spot to be formed on the target surface. A second aperture is located on an optical axis between the first aperture and the target surface for intercepting, at least in a direction corresponding to subscanning, part of the light diffracted by the first aperture which lies outwardly of the first minimums.

Optical scanner for image recording apparatus

An optical scanning system includes a light source, a coupling lens, a polygon mirror, an f.theta. lens, and a barrel toroidal lens. The barrel toroidal lens includes a barrel toroidal surface in which the radius of curvature thereof measured in the sub-scanning direction decreases with an increased distance from the optical axis of the barrel toroidal lens in a direction parallel to the main scanning direction.

Optical scanning system

Growing community of inventors

Kawasaki, Japan

Osamu Endo